Disaster risk and vulnerability in Pakistan at a district level

During the last 30 years, Pakistan has undergone extreme transformations with respect to population and economic conditions. As a hazard-prone country with more people living in high-risk areas than ever before it is increasingly important to pro-actively address natural and man-made hazards and the cumulative risks that they pose at multiple spatial and temporal scales. In this study an assessment has been undertaken of hazards that were selected on the basis of their frequency and severity. Hazard potential and vulnerability factors were first derived on the basis of expert opinion. A combination of these factors was then used to create an integrated total risk assessment map that addresses the socio-economic, environmental and physical dimensions of vulnerability for the districts of Pakistan. The total integrated vulnerability map reveals the damage potential and coping capacity of each district, providing support to decision makers and to end users such as local authorities, non-governmental organizations and disaster prevention officers, enabling them to (a) decide what is an acceptable level of risk, (b) determine the level of protection and (c) decide which predefined mitigation measure to apply.